Nurses in England to pause strikes during new govt. talks
The Hindu
They are part of a wave of U.K. industrial action which has seen workers ranging from paramedics to train drivers to teachers go on strike over the last year amid decades-high inflation.
Nurses in England will pause months of strike action over pay after the U.K. government agreed to hold "intensive talks", both sides said on Tuesday.
Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) had been due to walk out for 48 hours next Wednesday, the latest in a series of stoppages unprecedented in the union's 106-year history.
They are part of a wave of U.K. industrial action which has seen workers ranging from paramedics to train drivers to teachers go on strike over the last year amid decades-high inflation.
Nurses and ambulance drivers have even walked out on the same day for the first time.
The U.K. government has been refusing to discuss pay levels for the current fiscal year, insisting salaries have already been set for public sector workers by independent pay review bodies.
Ministers also argue that the country, which is grappling with a cost-of-living crisis as inflation remains stubbornly above 10 percent, cannot afford increases at or near these decades-high rates.
But in a joint statement Tuesday with the RCN, the Department of Health and Social Care said the two camps had agreed "to enter a process of intensive talks".